Psalms 119

Wesley: The dust—danger of present death, like one laid in the grave. Quicken—preserve life or raise from the dust. Word—according to thy promise.

Arminian interpreters hear desperate prayer answered by promise. Life is asked according to the word—not according to merit. Scripture’s promise as the ground of hope in extremis.

Calvin: no more hope of life than if shut up in the tomb. When death stares, petition the God who restores life to the dead. “According to thy word” confesses that apart from the word no hope remains; God has affirmed the life of the faithful is in his hand.

Dust-clinging faith flees to promise. Quicken is God’s prerogative matched to his word.

Wesley: My ways—my sins; and all my cares, and fears, and troubles.

What comes through is honest declaration met by God’s answer, then a further plea to be taught. Confession and instruction belong together. Past hearing fuels present teachability.

Calvin: he prayed sincerely, not as the proud who trust wisdom, fortitude, or opulence. To declare one’s ways is to attempt nothing without God’s assistance and to commit all plans to his pleasure—honestly, not hypocritically. He was heard, which fosters hope. He holds nothing dearer than true understanding of the law.

Answered prayer leads to “teach me,” not to self-congratulation.

Wesley: Understand—more thoroughly.

Wesley’s heirs hear understanding asked so that meditation on God’s works may deepen. Insight is gift; meditation is response.

Calvin: with the law before us we reap little from bare perusal without the Spirit as internal teacher. Make me understand so that I may meditate on thy wondrous works. We have no relish for the law until God sanctifies our minds; from disrelish springs indifference.

Spirit-given understanding opens meditation. External reading without internal teaching yields little.

Wesley: Melteth—like wax before the fire.

Wesleyan Arminians hear grief that dissolves strength, and a plea for word-based strengthening. The same promise that quickens (v. 25) now fortifies. Pastoral realism: sorrow is not denied; the word is the remedy sought.

Calvin: the soul melted away with grief—strength poured out like water. He assures himself of remedy if God stretch out his hand. Formerly near death he expected revival; now nearly consumed he hopes for renovated vigor—again according to thy word, for apart from the word God’s power affords little comfort.

Promise-fortified strength under melting sorrow. Word and hand of God restore.

Wesley: Grant me—vouchsafe an accurate knowledge of thy word, and let me govern myself by it in all things.

The note struck is twin petitions: remove lying ways, and grant the law graciously. Teaching is gracious gift; self-rule by the word is the aim. Falsehood is not negotiated with.

Calvin: knowing how prone man is to vanity and falsehood, he asks sanctification of thoughts lest Satan’s snares lead into error; then to be fortified with the law’s doctrine. Preferable sense of the second clause: freely grant me thy law. “Gratify” marks unmerited kindness. Full of blindness, we are easily deceived; unless God teach by the Spirit of wisdom we are hurried into errors. The means of preservation is instruction in the law—free gift, not merited increase of grace.

False ways removed and law granted are both mercy. Papal merit for increase of grace falls.

Wesley: Laid—or set before me as a mark to aim at; as a rule to direct me.

This is choosing under grace—the way of truth adopted, judgments set as aim and rule. Choice is not Pelagian autonomy; it is sincere resolve that still needs enlarging (v. 32).

Calvin: he affirms he desires nothing more than to follow righteousness and truth—hence “chosen.” Life is at a fork in every action; he resolved not to relinquish the truth. He was not exempt from temptation but surmounted it by conscientious observance. Setting judgments before him keeps choice fixed; without steady contemplation of the law, eyes wander.

Choosing faithfulness is resolved clinging under temptation, eyes locked on God’s judgments.

Clinging to the testimonies and pleading against shame echo Aleph’s concern (v. 6). Arminians hear persevering adhesion under threat of disgrace.

The Lord is addressed; shame’s removal is asked of him while the hand holds the testimonies.

Calvin: he combines holy affection for the law with prayer not to be ashamed and enfeebled under the derision of the ungodly. He has so firmly taken hold he cannot be separated. The more sincerely one surrenders to God, the more assailed by vile tongues.

Cling and “let me not be ashamed” are one piety under mockery.

Wesley: Run—obey with all readiness, fervency, and diligence. Enlarge—when thou shalt replenish my heart with wisdom, and love to thee and thy law.

Here the reader meets running as eager obedience when God replenishes heart with wisdom and love. Grace enlarges; the will runs. Choosing the way (v. 30) and asking enlargement belong together—sincere pursuit fulfilled by prevenient and cooperating grace, not native sprinting.

Calvin: when God inspires love for his law, he will be vigorous and ready, even steady so as not to faint. Implied admission: inability of men to advance in well-doing until God enlarge their hearts. No sooner does God expand the heart than they are fitted for walking and running. Proper observance is not mere external works but willing obedience; the heart must enlarge—yet not by self-determining power, but when hardness is subdued it moves freely. When God has enlarged, he also furnishes ability.

Enlarge first, then run. Ability and affection are given together.